Review: The Cinnamon Bun Book Store

The Cinnamon Bun Book Store by Laurie Gilmore
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

THIS IS NOT A COSY BOOKSHOP BOOK!

This is romance 100% and the cover is a CON.

I thought this would be a cute lil mystery about books, with a side of soft romance.

WRONG.

This is explicit and made me more uncomfortable than Sarah J Maas ever did.

Cute loser librarian uses hot playboy for fun summer, explicit sexual activity ensues.

There is no mystery, no clue chasing - no dead bodies or anything! What the heck!

I was fooled by the cover and I've never blushed harder. Goodness.

So yeah I guess if you like romance this'll get your rocks off but if you want a cosy bookish mystery bring some pearls to clutch.

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Review: Days at the Torunka Café

Days at the Torunka Café by Satoshi Yagisawa
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Bit of a nothing book - sweet, simple, but nothing particularly gripping. A cosy little slice-of-life fare.

The story is divided into a few smaller stories, all centred around the titular cafe. They're pieces of lives that allow us to get to know a couple characters for a brief period of time, before moving on.

It was sweet enough a read but mostly forgettable. Moments that mostly make you think about life and whether you're making the most of it.

This is another book that was outside my usual, and I don't think I'd bother with a sequel. It was okay but just not enough to drive interest or stand out as unique.

Perhaps one for readers who want to slow down and remember to not let life pass by too quickly.

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Review: The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act

The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act by Kieron Gillen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A fun idea, but disappointingly vague in execution.

From the get-go, this is a confusing mess.

12 gods come back every 90 years, live for 2 years as rock stars, then die and have to wait another 90 years. That's the basic premise.

So we begin with a rock concert, and then next minute people are dying, there is chaos, and our protagonist nobody is suddenly best friends with the gods?

The action is all over the shop, making it way too hard to comprehend what's happening, and there seems to be zero character building at all - we're expected to just know who everyone is, how they relate to one another, and why they're important to the story. I had no clue about most of it.

As pretty as the artwork is, it doesn't really help out at all. There's no cohesion between the art and the dialogue, and no logic to the panels to help fill in the gaps.

I wanted so badly to like this, and even read the next five issues after this book, but it's just too much to wrap my head around. Which is a shame because the premise and the character designs work for me.

Fans of convoluted literature-type graphic novels that you have to unpick a line at a time might appreciate this one more, but you can't take this one at surface value and have it make sense.

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Review: On Mystic Lake

On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A bit cliche and predictable but still an enjoyable read.

I've been trying to broaden my genre horizons this year and read a few more things I wouldn't normally read - this was one of those.

Annie's life comes crashing down around her when her husband of twenty years confesses he's in love with someone else. Devastated, Annie returns to her childhood home of Mystic Lake, where she hopes to find the woman she lost so many years ago.

Everything about the story is predictable, but Annie is a likeable protagonist and a familiar figure as a mum who gives everything to everyone else and loses herself in the process. In Mystic Lake, Annie begins to remember the things she enjoys and it's nice to see her allow for her own growth.

Naturally, there's the local hottie she was in love with as a kid, and he's available but not without his own history and baggage.

There's plenty of character depth, and while there's nothing really original it's still a pleasant enough read. The characters are (mostly) likeable and you do root for Annie and those around her who deserve good things.

The pacing is fine, and while there's nothing too dramatic happening, there's still enough to keep it interesting. It's not my usual fare at all but I did quite enjoy reading it.

A sweet, coming-home kind of story, that will keep you entertained. It's nothing too special, but it also has enough depth to round it out into a solid story.

With thanks to NetGalley for a digital copy

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Review: The Makoto Murders

The Makoto Murders by Richard Jerram
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Narrated by David Lee Huynh
Presented by Dreamscape Media

Odd and uncomfortable, but fun for exactly that reason!

I get the Dexter comparisons - this book is told by a serial killer who just wants to be loved and admired again for his photography. Cannot see anything wrong with that, nor the stalking of a friend's ex-wife. Poor guy.

Obviously, he's a psychopath.

It's an interesting story because it's told from the point of view of this loathsome guy, who clearly can't see anything wrong with his very wrong actions. There's no sympathy, of course - just more this baffling understanding that, wow, this guy really has no idea he's awful??? As the story progresses, we learn more from his unreliable narration and form a better understanding of what drives him.

I liked reading from this perspective - it made things a lot more fun. At the same time, there's nothing to like about this guy and there's no sympathy for the victims by nature of the narration, so it feels a bit disappointing. It's hard to really enjoy a book when you don't like the main character.

The narrator did a great job differentiating between characters, and adding excitement to the delivery. Pace was decent and his voice was entertaining.

It didn't quite live up to my expectations, but it was still a fun crime story from the perspective of a killer, making it different to the normal fare. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't as gripping as I wanted it to be. Still, I'd recommend it for crime fans looking for a fresh perspective, and fans of Dexter in particular should appreciate it.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

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Review: The Whisper

The Whisper by Chelsea Iversen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Narrated by Beth Hicks
Presented by Sourcebooks Audio

Wow I actually loved this!

A classic small town mystery - four close friends; one dies, and 15 years later the other three come together to work out what really happened.

But now add a sprinkle of magic witches.

I know that's gonna rub some people the wrong way but I rather enjoyed it - it gave an interesting point of difference to an old, familiar story. This one delves more into the relationships between the girls and the mystery of what happened to Quinn, but the witchy element was a lot of fun and just added a dash of lightness that I felt made the characters more likeable.

The audio was great fun and the narrator was easy to listen to, though the three girls do sound very similar in delivery which can get confusing at times. The pace was perfect and inflection matched the story well. I'd happily listen to this narrator again.

It was exactly the kind of crime dose I needed, and I really enjoyed it. No spacing out on this one at all - I was hanging off every word! Highly recommend for crime fans looking for something a little more special.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

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Review: Blacktail

Blacktail by Scott Hawkins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A bizarre sort of story, but no less enjoyable because of it. Violent and intriguing, and certainly not for the squeamish.

Blacktail is a half-breed - a wolf/dog mix of unknown paternity. His journey is one of revenge, after experiencing betrayal at the hands of humans.

I really enjoyed this revenge story, but it is a little strange to adapt to quickly. We get a familiar animal vs human set up, but then the story mixes in the supernatural and we have to adjust our idea of everything. I didn't mind it at all, but I did find it a little jarring.

Blacktail does not hold back, leading to some violent incidents that put this book firmly in the horror category. At the same time, there's not a lot of atmospheric horror to hold the tension throughout, so the nature of the story changes as it goes. It's this that really held me back from embracing it fully. I enjoyed the idea, the incidents, and the gruesome nature of it, but some of the wandering in between left me a little disappointed and honestly? kind of bored.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, because I found the uniqueness of it to be quite attractive. It's such an unusual story, filled with fresh concepts and a unique breed of horror that has the reader questioning whether they're on the right side of the man vs nature divide. There's something quite special about murderous animals - at least to me, anyway.

So it's definitely worth a shot if you're looking for horror with an animal protagonist, and/or something a little different to the usual fare.

With thanks to Macmillan and NetGalley for an ARC

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